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Church in Lyra's world could be compared to the way religion works in the real world. However I felt that by the end of the series Pullman had perhaps pulled away from this story, maybe to prevent religious criticism. Rather than focus on the structure of the religious governing bodies Pullman focussed towards Lyra's role as the new Eve'. Having destroyed the Authority and Metatron I wanted to find out what this meant for the Church and how things changed as a result of Lord Asriel's war. But this explanation never came and this is the reason why I am slightly reserved in my opinion of His Dark Materials.

CRITICAL REACTION

I think it is interesting to quickly discuss the critical reaction to His Dark Materials. While some praise the book other denounces it as blasphemous. Pullman must have realized that this kind of reaction was inevitable although interestingly it was not until the release of the film that real controversy sparked about the religious content of the fiction. After all Pullman kills off God, the Authority', and criticizes organized religion in his portrayal of the Church in Lyra's world. Rather than Heaven the afterlife is more like a tomb where the dead ghosts are eternally imprisoned until Lyra and Will release them.

Rupert Kaye, writing at Christian-teachers.org.uk, states:

"As a Christian teacher I find it particularly odious that Pullman's bitter and twisted trilogy has been marketed and sold as children's literature and desperately sad that so few Christians have taken the time to see Pullman's work for what it is: anti-Christian propaganda. His Dark Materials is a honeyed trap. The series appears to start innocently enough but soon the reader is dragged into a storyline which subverts God's order and blurs boundaries; good is portrayed as evil and evil is portrayed as good" (Christian-teachers.org.uk)

Sim ilarly an article in The Independent reads: Catholic organizations have called on followers to boycott the film, which they accuse of denigrating their faith and of pursuing an unambiguously anti-Catholic agenda' (www.independent.ie). It is interesting reading this having just provided my own review of the book. I also wrote about the blurring of good and evil but the blurring was far from a reversal. The book is too complex to suggest such as thing.

Perhaps it is because I am an atheist myself but I do not understand religious criticism of fiction. If a religious child reads the books surely they will use the critical tools that have been

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